Looking back - Weekend at Schweitzer, ID

As my travels are about to come to an end, I've been thinking a lot about the experiences I've had and the places I've been.  One of best parts about traveling for work is that I can bring my husband along for fun weekends on occassion. 

In January of 2011, he came out to Washington with me for the weekend before my trip to Whitman County.  We drive north into Idaho and spent an amazing weekend at Schweitzer.  It's a big moutain wtih a beautiful resort.  It takes a good 20+ minutes to drive up the mountain from town, the road curving back and forth through the pretty pine trees. 

The weekend we were there, Schweitzer offered free cross country skiing lessons and rentals, so we took advantage of that on Saturday morning.  It was absolutely gorgeous!  The snow was perfect and the trail was challenging (for a newbie like me) but still lots of fun.

On Saturday evening, we went tubing...which was all sorts of fun.  Flying down the hill in a big blow up sled really brings back the kid in you!  Mike and I both loved it.

Sunday, we spent on the Mountain.  The view from the top was beautiful.  The mountain overlooks Sandpoint, ID and Lake Pend Orielle.  And the snow was PERFECT.  Schweitzer has some big, wide open, steep bowls that they actually groom.  I loved these runs.  You could fly down without any worry of icey spots or tree stumps.  And if you fell, you'd land in a pile of snow.  The conditions were perfect.  A bit windy and cold at the top of the mountain....but just perfect once you got moving.  Both Mike and I would love to go back.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Sandpoint...just at the base of the mountain.  It's a nice, newer Holiday Inn and we got an upgrade to a 1 room suite.  Our favorite place to enjoy a cold one after being on the mountain all day was Pucci's Pub.  We also loved their steaming hot baked potato topped with...hell, I don't even remember.  Chili, I think.  It was awesome.

Travels are about to come to an end...

As most of our family and friends know, Mike and I are expecting our first baby in October!  Because of this, the time has come that I transition to a new role within my company that will have me home, rather than traveling 5 days per week, every week.  I have one trip left next week to Janesville, WI. And then, I can put away the suitcase rack that's been sitting in our master bedroom for the past few years. 

My new role is with our Business Development team.  I've already begun the transition.  I have an actual desk now...a home!  It's much nicer than having to fight for a hotel cube on those rare occassions I was in the office.  Our team plays a role that is right between Marketing and Sales.  We follow up with folks that show interest in our products and try to get them appointments to speak with our sales team.  We also conduct customer satisfication surveys and attend trade shows.  I am very excited about this opportunity and I'm really looking forward to spending more time at home and with my family and friends.

And...if you didn't know already, it's a boy!

Update for 2012!

Wow...I sure did a poor job of keeping up with this blog!  A lot has happened since I last wrote in December.  I've been on a ton of work trips (19 already in 2012).  I've had some fun experiences.

I had two wonderful trips to Grand Junction, Colorado!  The first trip, I flew into Denver a day early so that I could spend the evening with my Aunt Stacie and Uncle Craig.  I drove the 3+ hours through the mountains to Grand Junction on Monday morning....what a beautiful drive!  Then, I flew my husband out on Friday afternoon, just as Denver got hit with a massive blizzard.  Of course, Denver got 24+ inches of fresh powder, but the mountains were dry.  Either way, we spent our Saturday at Vail together and then Sunday at Copper Mountian with my cousin Amber and her husband.  We also were able to celebrate my Uncle Craigs birthday with a big family dinner on Saturday evening and a trip to the casino to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday.  All in all, a fabolous weekend with lots of great memories. 

I spent another week in Minocqua, WI.  That is a quiet town in the winter and a hopping boat town in the summer.  A string quartet, Carpe Diem from Montana, was in town playing at the local theatre, so I enjoyed their show with a few glasses of wine.  I even bought their CD!

I had two trips to St. Louis and during one, I got myself a cheap seat at the Cardinals game.  What a nice stadium they have there!  And it was a beautiful, cool, breezy night.  It was perfect for a ball game.  Being a Tigers fan, it tried not to cheer for the Cardinals.  But when their pitcher hit a triple, I had to stand up and clap.  It was pretty fun watching an NL game LIVE. I've only really watched the Tigers play a few inter-league games on TV, so I never really understood the strategy that is invoved when your pitcher is hitting.  Another thing that was neat about St. Louis is that the Cardinals score their games different than any other MLB team.  I bought a scorecard and it had it's own instructions on how to score the game, the Cardinals way.  Pretty cool and actually really simple.  I had a great time.

I had my final trip to Whitman County, WA.  They have become one of my favorite customers.  While it was an uneventful week (which is a good thing when talking about work), I was able to visit my favorite Pullman restaurants one last time. 

Janesville, WI has been a customer of mine for the past 8 months.  They are just about to go LIVE.  Last week while there, I again got the itch to catch a ball game so I bought a cheap seat from stub hub and drove the 1.5 hours to Milwaukee on Wednesday evening.  Like usual, I didn't have much cash on me so I was planning to park on the street somewhere near the stadium.  As I found out, there is NO WHERE to park near Miller Field.  Luckily though, I spotted a shuttle bus that offered free shuttle service to the games.  I followed that back to the bar, parked and hopped on.  While on our way to the stadium, an older gentleman began talking to me.  He, his daughter and son-in-law had an extra seat...10 rows behind home plate!  They invited me to ditch my nose-bleed ticket and to sit with them for the game.  NICE!!  The Brewers won.  I used my last few bucks of cash to tip the shuttle bus driver, so no scorecard this time. But, I enjoyed the game and loved seeing those funny sausages running around the field.

All in all, it's been a great first half of 2012.